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| © UNICEF/HQ06-2627/ Tom Pietrasik |
| INDIA: Bottles of polio vaccine sit on the table in a doctor's office on the first day of the polio immunization campaign, or "Booth Day", in Pakbara Town in Uttar Pradesh. |
UNICEF procured an average of 2 billion doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) annually for supplementary immunization activities during the last five years, including 2.3 billion doses in support of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in 2009. The supply of polio vaccines requires major international tendering of all WHO pre-qualified suppliers of OPV. The process ensures adequate vaccine supply at competitive prices. UNICEF also supported the delivery of other services such as vitamin A and insecticide treated nets (ITN) with polio supplementary activities.
Vaccine security requires the guaranteed production of vaccines, secure multi-year allocations for vaccine financing and long-term forecasting of vaccine requirements. The divergence in the type of polio vaccine has increased the complexity of polio vaccine purchasing. Industrialized countries generally purchase more complex vaccine while developing countries tend to work with good quality but basic vaccines.
Market forces are moving manufacturers toward complex vaccines while they reduce or even stop production of cheaper vaccines. UNICEF, on behalf of GPEI partners, works with manufacturers to maintain and increase supply of the polio vaccine that UNICEF uses and is also working with new manufacturers to ensure continued supply.
Polio vaccine supplier meetings
